The Best Employers Selection Process

Great opportunities await today's aging workforce

The winners of the 2013 Best Employers for Workers Over 50 award, cosponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), have been announced, and the National Institutes of Health tops this year’s list of 50 winners.

Winning organizations submitted a comprehensive application that included information about their human resources practices and policies. Because policies that are good for mature workers are often beneficial for all, employers are not required to have programs dedicated exclusively to older employees. However, employers who can demonstrate that their programs are particularly valued by mature workers may receive additional credit during the evaluation process.

Related

Alternative work options, such as flexible scheduling, job-sharing and phased retirement

Employee health and pension benefits

Benefits for retirees

Applications submitted by the deadline were evaluated by an independent survey firm using evaluation guidelines developed by AARP’s workforce experts and research staff in consultation with external labor experts.

After the survey firm’s review, the applications and initial ratings are sent to AARP and to an independent panel of judges.

The panel of judges, comprising private-sector, nonprofit and government labor experts, reviewed the applications. The opinions of the judges, together with the initial rating, form each applicant’s final rating.

After the evaluation is complete, finalists are vetted to ensure that any organization recognized as one of the AARP Best Employers for Workers Over 50 has practices that are generally consistent with AARP’s public policies and values.

All applicants, including those who are honored and those who are not, are notified of the outcome and receive a benchmarking report comparing their scores with those of other applicants. For more information on the program, please read our FAQs (PDF).

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